Quote from: cooder on January 23, 2019, 12:08:36 AMQuote from: Bret608 on January 22, 2019, 04:52:56 PMYeah I guess the friendly cheeky rivalry between US and Canada is somewhat similar to OZ/NZ shenanigans ....
Ah, us American tourists! When my family and I went to Australia this past June, people in Queensland kept guessing that we were Canadian and/or expressing surprise that we're from the States. A friendly local in Townsville shed some light, mentioning that we were the nicest Americans he had met. It also seemed like visitors from the U.S were comparatively rare in those parts other than Cairns, so maybe a few bad apples really stood out in peoples' minds. I'd say Bali is where I witnessed the most bad American and European tourist behavior.
Between Australia and New Zealand, I'd say people were equally friendly when we visited. On the West Coast of NZ's South Island, people may have been a bit crankier, but with that amount of rain I can hardly blame 'em. And yes Stephan, we totally want your PM to come over here and take over!
That comparison was at the front of my mind when I read this. Something along the lines of, "Hey, Kiwis are like Canadians!" The extreme (excessive?) politeness of the responses also hits that stereotype pretty hard. At the same time, I also thought there was something really beautiful about it. Maybe obsessing over it for the better part of two weeks is a bit much and I'm guessing that Kiwis have a bit of identity-based complex about Australia that can go over the line from time to time (god knows Canadians can take the American thing too far--and it also works less because I don't think Aussies actually have a reputation for rudeness/self-absorption), but IMO not letting the bastards drag you down into the muck with them is entirely praiseworthy. Usually when stuff like this happens the people calling out the bad behavior end up coming off just as badly as the people they're criticizing. Looks like that didn't happen here, and that's pretty cool.
Now bring on video clips of The Clean!